ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1996              TAG: 9601050033
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER 

RINER SEWER SYSTEM EXPANSION TO BE STUDIED

Montgomery County has launched a study that could lead to expanding a sewage system in Riner for a new school and future growth.

The county Public Service Authority voted Wednesday to authorize a preliminary engineering report on providing sewer and water service for the proposed new Riner elementary school. The report will explore capacity needed, development costs and possible funding sources.

A nearly exhausted capacity at the current sewage system, built years ago in Riner to serve the school and a few residential customers, is the factor driving the study. The current system just missed reaching 95 percent of its capacity in October, and has come close in other periods when school was in session for the entire month, said PSA utilities engineer Jerry Mabry.

Even without plans for a new elementary school, the PSA would have to do something soon about the plant, he said. Finishing the preliminary study, designing the expansion or new plant and constructing it would take 14 months. With a school bond sale scheduled for this spring, the county school system is attempting to have the new Riner elementary open by the fall of 1997, just 20 months away.

"It is definitely going to be tight," Mabry said.

Plans call for the elementary school to be built on land behind the current Auburn High and Middle School in Riner. The county now is seeking to obtain that land.

In the fall, the school system requested that the PSA reserve all its future water and sewer capacity for the new project. In response, the PSA said the School Board should include a new water tank for fire protection and a sewage system expansion as part of its school-building plans. School engineers dispute that need and have suggested the PSA is trying to expand its utility systems to provide service to future residential and commercial customers, rather than simply serving the new school.

LENGTH: Short :   42 lines